Biography: Steven J. Strong

Steven Strong is regarded as the pre-eminent authority on integration of renewable energy systems in buildings in North America. Drawing on his background in Architecture and Engineering, he has earned a reputation for pioneering integration of renewable energy systems - especially solar electricity - with environmentally responsive building design.

Over the past 25 years, Steven has designed dozens of homes and buildings powered by solar electricity:

In 1984, working with New England Electric, he completed the world's
first PV-powered neighborhood in central Massachusetts.

In 1996, he worked with Olympic village architects in Atlanta to power the Natatorium Complex at the 1996 Summer Games with solar electricity using the world's largest roof-top PV power system.

His firm consults to architects in the integration of solar electric power, and to industry leaders on product development for building integration. And Steven is the US Representative to the International Energy Agency's expert working group on PV in Buildings.

He is the author of The Solar Electric House and Solar Electric Buildings, an Overview of Today's Applications and the editor and contributing author of Photovoltaics in the Built Environment, a Design Guide for Architects and Engineers as well as contributing author to Photovoltaics in Buildings and Building with Photovoltaics.

Articles about him and his work have appeared in over 100 publications including TIME, Architecture, Business Week, Architectural Record, Environmental Design and Construction, IEEE Spectrum, World Architecture, Building Design and Construction, Popular Science, Wired, and New Age and on television and in energy and environmental documentaries.

In the spring of 1999, TIME magazine named Steven an environmental "Hero for the Planet." In the spring of 2001, the American Solar Energy Society presented him with its Charles Greeley Abbot Award - the Society's highest honor, for outstanding achievement in the advancement of solar energy.